BOTTAS SETS LAP RECORD
Flying Finn fastest in qualifying as teammate Hamilton settles for second
Valtteri Bottas seized his first pole position of the Formula One season in Austria yesterday with Mercedes AMG Petronas teammate and world championship leader Lewis Hamilton having to settle for second.
Bottas, who has had four second places but is yet to win this year, triumphed at the scenic Red Bull Ring from pole last year.
Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel, 14 points behind Hamilton after eight races, qualified third but faced a trip to the stewards for allegedly blocking Renault’s Carlos Sainz.
“I can guarantee nobody will be more hungry for the win than me,” said Bottas, whose position at the reigning champions has yet to be confirmed for next year even though he is expected to be retained.
Mercedes AMG Petronas, unbeaten in Austria in the four years since the race returned to the calendar, had brought aerodynamic upgrades to Spielberg after the latest specification engine was introduced in France and they clearly helped.
“Valtteri did a stunning lap with the first run and I made a bit of a mistake,” said Hamilton. “I’m happy with the second run, it is a good result for the team.”
Bottas had lagged Hamilton in practice and the first two phases of the qualifying session but then put down an impressive one minute 03.264s first flying lap in the final shootout.
He went even faster with his second lap, a track record 1:03.130s that Hamilton could not match with his own best effort a mere 0.019s slower.
Ferrari locked out the second row, with Kimi Raikkonen fourth, while Max Verstappen will line up fifth at Red Bull’s home circuit.
Romain Grosjean, yet to score a point so far this season, qualified an impressive sixth for Haas with Red Bull’s Australian Daniel Ricciardo seventh.
Haas’s Kevin Magnussen was eighth with Sainz ninth and Renault team mate Nico Hulkenberg 10th.